Greenville’s American Farm Heritage Museum was the site of the first John Deere Green Reunion. The event took place July 28-30, during Heritage Days. The Illinois reunion featured Deere tractors and engines and celebrated 80 years of Models G and L. “The G was made between 1937 and 1953,” said Mark Berkel, of the Southern Illinois Green Iron Club (SIGIC). According to an article by Benjamin Hain in the G Reunion show book, the G started out to be the Model F, which followed the other lettered tractors. However, because the tractor was to be in competition with International Harvester’s F-30, Hain wrote, “The potential for confusion between the F and F-30 was obvious.” Thus, the Deere Model G was born. It was manufactured in Waterloo, Iowa, and originally sold for around $2,600. The G came in a few varieties – it could be purchased as a single-front, wide-front and then there was the Wartime G. The Wartime G was manufactured from 1942-47 (except for 1944). To be able to continue to manufacture the tractors during the war, Deere was required to do a bit of modernization, adding power to the tractor. During this period, Deere added an M, standing for modernization, to the G – thus the Model GM. After the war, the company went back to manufacturing the regular Model G. While the three different models exist, there are also the three basic versions a customer would find in the G. There was the unstyled G, the early styled G and finally the late styled G. A copy of an original ad in the show book with the introduction of the G shows the tractor with the wording: “John Deere Model G General Purpose, The New 3-Plow General Purpose Tractor. Built for the Large Acreage Row-Crop Farmer.” The National John Deere Model G Reunion was hosted by SIGIC and on the front of the show book was a picture of the club’s co-founder, the late Regi Detmer, who lost his battle with melanoma. Fittingly, Detmer was on his 1951 John Deere G, fondly known as “Old Faithful,” in the photo. The club was formed in 2009 and at first had only around five or six guys making up its early membership. Today the club has grown and has around 50-60 members that range in ages from 16-94. Mark said there had been 502 Deeres on-site and that 224 of them were Gs. “We had the oldest G that was Serial No. 1005, and the last G built was here.” There were Deere Gs from 25 states, with the furthest away from Astoria, Ore. Along with the show there was also the pulling tractor “toughest G competition.” At the Reunion, Mark said there were also three rare Waterloo Boys and Dave Thomas’ beautiful Experimental “bathtub” D. It took Thomas five years to complete this 1917 Experimental Waterloo Boy. In addition, he said, “We had the last JD 330 built, and I think we had 15 or 16 hi-crops on the grounds.” One of the most interesting hi-crops belonged to Bryan Koskela, who traveled from Astoria with his John Deere. Bryan put together his amazing-looking G. “I started with a main frame case for a 1939 G,” he said. “I fabricated portions of the front axle and added 730 hi-crop drop boxes.” He finished the tractor just in time for the Reunion. “I finished painting last Sunday,” he said at the show. The homemade 730 G hi-crop took 18 months to finish. With a large turnout, the Model G reunion was a great success. For more information about the show, log onto www.facebook.com/JohnDeereGReunion Readers with questions or comments for Cindy Ladage may write to her in care of this publication. Learn more of Cindy’s finds and travel in her blog, “Traveling Adventures of a Farm Girl,” at http://travelingadventuresofafarmgirl.com 0074- ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING hi-crops belongs to Bryan Koskela, who traveled to the Illinois show from Oregon with his John Deere. 0049- THIS GENTLEMAN LOADS UP his JD Model G on the last day of the show. 0047- A ROW OF FEATURED Model Gs at the late-July John Deere Green Reunion. 0060- ONE OF THREE WATERLOO BOYS on display at the John Deere Model G reunion. (Cindy Ladage photos) |
